Gov. Doug Ducey slightly behind Democrat David Garcia in new poll

PHOENIX – A new poll shows Arizona’s gubernatorial race to be a tossup, with Democratic front-runner David Garcia holding an extremely slim edge over Republican incumbent Doug Ducey.

In a poll conducted by research and data firm Gravis Marketing, 42 percent of likely Arizona voters favored Garcia in a head-to-head matchup, while 41 percent were with Ducey. Seventeen percent were undecided.

The poll was conducted June 27 through July 2 and had a margin of error of 3.2 percent.

It didn’t ask potential voters about the Aug. 28 primaries, but Garcia held a 33-11 percent lead over the closest Democratic rival, state Sen. Steve Farley, in a recent Data Orbital poll.

Garcia, an education professor, was the Democratic nominee for Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction in 2014 but lost to Diane Douglas in the general election.

Ducey had a commanding 44-22 percent lead over his lone GOP primary opponent, former Secretary of State Ken Bennett, in an Emerson College ePoll last month.

But in an NBC/Marist poll from around the same time, only 26 percent of likely Arizona voters said Ducey deserved to be re-elected.

In other results from the Gravis poll, Democrat Kyrsten Sinema led the three GOP candidates in head-to-head matchups for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican Jeff Flake.

Sinema led fellow U.S. Rep. Martha McSally 43-39 percent, former state Sen. Kelli Ward 46-37 percent and former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio 42-33 percent. Those results were similar to what has been seen in other recent polls, although the margins were smaller.

In the Republican primary race, McSally led the way with 36 percent, followed by Ward at 27 percent and Arpaio at 24 percent.